‘Queen Sugar’ Cast and New Showrunner Speaks on Season 3 at PaleyFest

OWN’s hit show Queen Sugar is currently filming its third season and promises to delve in the complexities of fatherhood. The Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay executive produced show gives you a visually beautifully insight on the lives of three siblings living in modern day Louisiana and the emotional dealings that they had to engage in after the death of their father.
The series new showrunner Kat Candler said at PaleyFest in Los Angeles on Saturday. “I’m excited about just watching the complexities of that relationship unfold,” she said, then raised some laughs when she added, “I’m excited about some godfather s**t.”
Queen Sugar creator DuVernay has consistently championed women on this show, and said she chose Candler as the Season 3 showrunner because she’d directed “one of my favorite episodes” in Season 1, then in Season 2 “killed” directing the opening and finale episodes. “We knew each other from Sundance as independent filmmakers, and she came and did this episode – her very first episode of television. She makes these gorgeous films.” However, DuVernay pointed out, Candler’s film career did not mean she’d found it easy to get a job in television. As a woman, she found herself shut out. Until that is, DuVernay gave her a shot. Explaining that she hired “dynamic women directors, who so often have had doors closed to them,” she added the show’s newest helmer is Patricia Cardoso (Real Women Have Curves). “We’re honored to have her directing an episode. She just finished episode two of Season 3.”
Asked by moderator Nischelle Turner whether the show was about a family who happens to be black, or a black family, DuVernay said firmly, “It’s a show about a black family, and I think that is valid and it’s beautiful,” adding that “it was the identity of the show we embraced very early, and our viewers are so evolved and fair-minded, they can look at it and say, ‘This is a black family and I can see myself in it whether I’m black or not.’”
Queen Sugar stars Rutina Wesley, Dawn Lyen-Gardner, Kofi Siroboe, and Tina Lifford. Season 3 of Queen Sugar will premiere on Tuesday, May 29 and Wednesday, May 30